First Round
Alexander Motylev won 2-0 against Abobker Elarabi and proceeds to the next round, where he will face Rinat Jumabayev. You can see the game of day 1 here.
Ivan Cheparinov had a bye and he will face in round 2 Rasmus Svane.
Sam Shankland also had a bye and he will face Baadur Jobava in round 2. Had Jobava lost, Sam would face Abhi.
Jacob and I thought that Andre was on the way into a play-off after making a draw in a winning position in round 1, but unfortunately, he lost against Pavel Ponkratov 0.5-1.5 and is now eliminated.
Elshan Moradiabadi won 2-0 against Helgi Dam Ziska and will face MVL in round 2.
Murzin went into the first round as the underdog, but managed to win the play-off. In Round 2 he is playing local hero, Vladislav Artemiev. Watch here his fantastic reaction at the end of the play off. Hi five!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IUA1AqpdM
Second Round, Game 1
Jumabayev, Rinat 1 - Motylev, Alexander 0
Jobava, Baadur 1/2 - Shankland, Sam 1/2
Moradiabadi, Elshan 1/2 - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 1/2
Murzin, Volodar 1/2 - Artemiev, Vladislav 1/2
Svane, Rasmus 1 - Cheparinov, Ivan 0
Second Round, Game 2
Motylev, Alexander 1/2 - Jumabayev, Rinat 1/2. Alexander is out of the tournament
Shankland, Sam 1 - Jobava, Baadu 0. Sam proceeds to the next round
Cheparinov, Ivan 1/2 - Svane, Rasmus 1/2 Playoff
Murzin, Volodar 1/2 - Artemiev, Vladislav 1/2 Playoff
Moradiabadi, Elshan 1/2 - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 1/2 Elshan is out of the tournament
Round 2 Play-offs
Volodar Murzin’s final score against Vladislav Artemiev was 1.5 vs 2.5 so he returns home. I am sure he will participate in many World Cups to come!
After more than 6 hours of playing, Ivan Cheparinov defeated Razmus Svane in the Armageddon and is advancing in the third round!
So for tomorrow I am cheering for Ivan and Sam 
Check out the crazy time scramble (Ivan has 3 sec) and game here. https://youtu.be/Q_dF1Sy9CmM
Impressive play!
Round 3, Game 1
Cheparinov, Ivan 1/2 - Svidler, Peter 1/2
Shankland, Sam 1/2 - Areshchenko, Alexander 1/2
Round 3, Game 2
Svidler, Peter 1/2 - Cheparinov, Ivan 1/2
Areshchenko, Alexander 1/2 - Shankland, Sam 1/2
Round 3, play-offs
Ivan unfortunately is out of the tournament, with a final score 1.5 vs 2.5 for Peter Svidler.
Sam Shankland won against Alexander Areshchenko with a final score 2.5 vs 1.5 and he is going to face Rinat Jumabayev.
Sam, after a very long game, won against Areshchenko today! Jumabayev, Rinat vs. Shankland, Sam | FIDE World Cup 2021 | chess24.com
Wow, Sam also won from Peter Svidler, awesome!!
Yes. Looks like that homework… works. Best get on with it…
Yes, yes, yes! Sam won against Peter Svidler and is in the Quarterfinal! And he is No 27 in the world with a live rating of 2718.8!
Very, very happy and proud of him!
Here is the interview with Peter for round 5.1 after the draw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po4hbW8gLF4
And here is Sam’s interview after his win https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xixlo3O41mk
What do you think? MVL or Karjakin will face Sam in the next round?
In the other matches,
Esipenko ½ : ½ Carlsen
Duda ½ : ½ Grischuk
Karjakin ½ : ½ Vachier-Lagrave
Durarbayli 0 : 1 Vidit
Shankland 1 : 0 Svidler
Ivic ½ : ½ Fedoseev
Well done Sam! I don’t think he cares who he faces, nobody to fear now.
1-0!! Sam calculated better than the engine! Shankland, Sam - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0
In the other matches of the World Cup QuarterFinal,
Bacrot, Etienne - Carlsen, Magnus 0-1
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 0.5-0.5
Tabatabaei, M.amin - Fedoseev, Vladimir 0.5-0.5
Sam had a difficult day today, Let’s hope he can come right back to continue his great performance. Karjakin, Sergey vs. Shankland, Sam | FIDE World Cup | 2021 | chess24.com
Yes, let’s hope he will succeed and proceed to the semifinals to face Fedoseev!
Only Sam and Sergei will go to play off tomorrow; Magnus, Duda and Fedoseev all proceed.
He had a great game 3, even prompting Nigel Short to wonder if this victory was born in Scotland, with mention of training with Jacob.